Obviously this isn't actually the case because that's Pickford but I don't understand why Koeman took him out of the side and I don't know why he gets jumped on any time he misplaces a few passes.

The reason he misplaces passes is because he tries to drag us up the pitch and make forward passes yet the likes of the EFC Twitteratti will slag him off after a match whilst in the same breath lamenting Scheniderlin for being a crab.

Even the simple things like at 56 seconds in this video

Without trying to turn this into a Schneiderlin slag off, right there he'd have taken an extra touch and passed that into Gana. Davies' first thought is to turn towards the opposition half and play forward ball to Rooney with space to drive into.

I just think many need to accept the type of footballer he is. He's not a Barkley and he's not DM but he's a fairly unique player that certainly isn't championship standard as someone mentioned in the Gana thread.

He's not perfect but we're a better team with him on the pitch, whatever his form. He's energetic and forward-thinking which unlocks a lot of possibilities for us in attack. I also think he's underrated technically. He's a pretty good dribbler and has a nice weight of pass when he looks to play the ball in behind the defense.

He's a top snide too.

Really poor from Koeman and Allardyce to leave him out so often. He's already influential and he's only going to get better with games.

I know you're fan so this isn't aimed at you but what top midfielder was at 19?

Yep. Same deal with the rest of the youngsters. Nobody is a top player at that age.

There's plenty to be disappointed with regarding Allardyce but his eagerness to expel all of the young players from the side is the worst for me. Holgate, Kenny, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Lookman, and Vlasic have rarely let us down when they've played this season. They have their flaws (so do most of the expensive senior players, to be fair) but how can we expect them to get to the level needed if they're not getting meaningful time on the pitch? I understand dropping Kenny for Coleman and Lookman and Vlasic are probably better used off the bench at this stage but the point remains.

I'm not saying the youngsters don't need protecting at times and the team will certainly struggle if we play too many of them but I can't find a good reason why, at the very least, Holgate (our best defender during his run at CB), Davies (without whom our midfield plainly doesn't work), and Calvert-Lewin (who will chase anything and has a better first touch and more quality on the ball than Niasse) aren't starting every match. These players will pay dividends for a manager willing to afford them some patience.

I know you're fan so this isn't aimed at you but what top midfielder was at 19?

This is whatís most annoying.

Nearly every young player has a dip 6/12 months into their career through a combination of things such as drops in adrenaline, confidence; the opposition taking notice of you; increased expectations and attention so flaws / mistakes are highlighted and remembered more.

As long as there are still some signs of quality then this sort of slump is nothing to worry about; yet with people's short term opinions he swings from should go to the WC to championship player. Ridiculous.

In terms of picking him, he was rubbish at the start of the season so there werenít overwhelming arguments to pick him then at all.

But itís obvious that heís part of the only midfield that plays well and given the future benefits of playing him he should certainly be starting most games now.

The other thing aside from his passing that I like is that he tends to make good runs from inside to out which helps the wider players with passing options but also distracts central defensive players leaving more space in the middle for our attackers.

The other thing aside from his passing that I like is that he tends to make good runs from inside to out which helps the wider players with passing options but also distracts central defensive players leaving more space in the middle for our attackers.

Until we get a forward thinking progressive manager players like Davies, Lookman and Vlasic will always struggle. At the moment Sams main priority is how to stop goals, its his selling point, so he wants players who are defensively minded, which is a real shame